Distribution apparatus



June 21, 1949. G, D PORTER I 2,474,065

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TeaM- 215 meu/@mf l dh Patented June 21, 1949 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISTRIBUTION APARATUS Grover D. Porter, Roscoe, Ill.

Application April 2, 1945, Serial No. 586,073

3 Claims. l

This invention relates to apparatus for distributing loose material such as crushed or pulverized stone, sand, cinders, and the like, and has more particular reference to distributors of the type adapted to be mounted on a moving vehicle and to lcover a ground area substantially wider than the vehicle.

The general object is to provide a distributor which may be readily attached to and detached from an ordinary tilting body type of dump truck, which is durable in construction, which spreads the material evenly over an area ol substantial Width, which distributes material selectively in variable amounts per unit area, and which is capable of elcient operation over Widely varying service conditions.

A more detailed object is to provide a material spreader in which the central portion of the distribution area is covered by gravitational feed of the material, While the adjacent side portion of the area is spread by centrifugal action.

Another object is to provide for selectively varying the amounts of material distributed gravitationally and centrifugally.

A further object is to provide a novel mechanism for forming the gravitationally distributed material into a continuous curtain.

Still another object is to drive the centrifugal distributing mechanism in a novel manner.

The invention also resides in the novel construction of the centrifugal distributor and of the means for feeding the material to the gravita tional and centrifugal distributors.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a rear view of a dump truck equipped with a material distributor embodying the novel features of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the improved distributor.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional View.

Fig. 5 is a diametrical sectional view of the speed change clutch.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. e taken through a diiTerent portion of the hopper.

Fig. '7 is a diagrammatic View illustrating the distributing action.

While the invention is susceptible of various modications and alternative constructions, I have shown in the drawings and will herein describe in detail the preferred embodiment. It is to be understood, however, that I do not intend to limit the invention by such disclosure but aim to cover all modifications and alternative constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

The improved spreader mechanism constitutes an attachment adapted to be suspended pivotally on a dump body IU hinged at Il on the rear end of the trarne i2 of a truck driven by road engaging wheels i3. The body has a hinged tailpiece I4 adjustable to control the volume of material discharged from the rear end of the body when the latter is tilted by suitable mechanism (not shown) The present attachment includes a box-like hopper l5 of a length corresponding to the width of the truck body and having front, rear, and end walls i5, Il, and i8, and a bottom i9. The upwardly projecting end Walls are connected by pivot pins 2Q to the -rearwardly projecting ends of bars 2l which extend along and are riveted to opposite sides of the body I0. An inclined plate 22 hinged to the rear cross member of the frame i2 rests on the front Wall I6 of the hopper and deiiects the discharged material into the hopper so as to enable the latter to be spaced rearwardly from the tail gate.

The material to be distributed is discharged from the hopper through a series of holes spaced along the bottom I9 and forming three groups of streams 26, 28, and 29, and the material of the respective groups is distributed over three ground areas 23, 24, and 25 (Fig. '7) which are of an overall Width greater than the truck body and on the order of 18 to 24 feet. The intermediate group of streams 26 extends over about the central two-thirds of the hopper length, and these streams are formed into a continuous curtain 2l which falls onto the ground immediately beneath the hopper so as to cover the ground area 23, the width of the latter being somewhat less than the width of the vehicle body lil. The streams 28 and 29 gravitating from the end portions of the hopper fall onto power driven distributors 39 and 3| which are constructed in a novel manner to throw the materials rearwardly and laterally cover the ground areas 24 and 25 evenly.

The material streams 26 are deined by holes 32 in the bottom of the hopper, which holes cooperate With similar holes 33 in a plate 34 to form valves whose eiective areas may be varied by shifting the plate endwise. The plate is held against the hopper bottom by suitable guide straps 3l!B and is slidable by shifting a hand lever 3 36 pivoted at '31 on the rear hopper wall I1 with its lower end connected by a link 38 to a bracket 39 on the plate. By employing holes of substantial size, the danger of clogging by lumps of material is minimized.

'I'he spaced streams of material are intercepted and formed into wider and thinner bands of material which lie closely adjacent or overlap each other so as to form the substantially continuous curtain :211. 'This is .accomplishe'dbythe simple action of 'an inclined plate 40 pivoted at the junction 4| of the front and bottom hopper Wallsvt and |9 with its free edge supported by chains 4'2 suspended from the rear hopper wall `|1isoth`=a5t the plate may be inclined downwardlyand rear-l wardly at the desired angle.

The distributors 30 and 3| .compriseilatfcimular disks 43 and 43a rigid with central shafts 44 which are journaled in and project upwardlyinto gear boxes 45 carried on brackets 46 which are secured against 'fthe rearfhoppenwall. JfIhe'Sbo'Xe's .are .sotrlisposed :that when .the hopper -ris yhanging adownwardly the disks 43 land 43a are `substanitiallyrhorzontal abut finclined; slightly] `downwardly and rearwardly. The spreader shafts 44 .are .110- oated frelative .to y'the' hopper so itl-iat :the front esector qof @each disk `is disposed -beneath the end portions .of the hopper A'to yreceive 'material gravi- `tating downwardlythrough groups of holes 4=1 'in the hopper bottom. vThese holes cooperate rwith xsimilarly shaped -holes 4:8 in -an aunderlying z-plate I4.9 Asuitably supported by the hopper for -endwise sliding adjustment to -control the `sizes of .the streams 28 and 29. Preferably, the holes 48farefof lrectangularshape Ywiththe-length ofthe rectanf l .gles paralleling :the rpath of travel of .the vehicle .so .that .the individual streams may-be :of substantially .greater area than .the streams 26, and, therefore, cover .asubstantial area :of thespreader .disks 4Adjustment .of the plates 4449 may -be e'f- {fected by lindividual vhand levers-Wand 54 pi-v- Aoted `on the hopper wall .l1 .and lin-kedto brackets 5`2-.on the plates. Thus, theamounts lof material .delivered through .the three sets ofy hopper out'- lets 'may be varied individually, Vthereby #enabling leven distribution-.per unit area over the three different zones 23, "24, .and 225, and this in spite of varying degrees of dampness of the material or `other factors affecting 'the ow from the hopper.

To insure continuousdelivery o'f ymaterial to all of the hopper outlets, means is provided 'for agitating the materialwith-in the hopper. Herein, this means comprises la squared shaft 53proje'cting through and journaled in opposite end walls of 'the hopper and having .groups of radially projecting arms 54 secured thereto at points opposite the holes 32 and 41. 'The armsof each group 'are formed by the bent endsof metal straps 55 clamped against opposite sides of 'the -shaftsby bolts '55 (Fig. 4). Preferably, the arms 'are made of light vgauge metal so as to .bend readily and avoid damage to the hopper in the event that 'a large vand unbreakable piece of material is encountered. As the shaft turns, the armsf54 pass through the material in the hopper and -keep the entire body in a state of agitation at the point of discharge through the bottom outlets thereby insuring continuous feeding of material from' all of the outlets. Y

One projecting end of the shaft53 carries a sprocket wheel 51 driven through a chain '58 from a similar sprocket 59 mounted on one vehicle drive wheel I3 for rotation about `the wheel axis. Through a jaw clutch 12 (Fig. 2) including a shiftable collar 13 splined on the ,Wh'e'el Va'Xl-e the agitator shaft may be connected to or discon-a '.Ihe spreader disks 43-and 43a-arerotated at a :speed lwhich atvall times corresponds toithe prevailing speed of the Vehicle as distinguished from the speed of the vehicle engine. For this purpose,

V"the disks are driven from the vehicle Wheel and in 'Itliisinstanc'e through the intermediary of the agitator shaft 53. Splined onto the latter is a shiftable "clutch collar 62 having teeth 63 prosjecting -in opposite directions for engagement withteeth 64 on either of two sprocket wheels 65 and 7166 Awhich are loose on the shaft 53. The sprockets are of dilerent sizes and respectively conneoted-Yhtrou'gh chains Y6l' and 56B yto smaller sprockets!) and 10 fastfonais'haft 111| Whichfpr'o- F'jects 'through and is Ajourna'led fin lthe fadia'cent 4gear-'box i 45. Within 'the llatter, the shaft f carries f-a bevel gear 'llwhi'ch meshes withlafgear `16 on xthefshaitv 440i the spreader disk 43.

Through flexible couplings I1 fan'd va Y:shaft 18, the-shaft 'H isfconnected to a'shaft -1'9 ltlia'tlextends lthrough 'and rinto the V:other-@gear 'box 45 and similarly is bevel geared to the *shaft 44 of 'thespreader disk 432. The connections-are such 't-hat during forward motion --of 'the'v'ehicle with lthe `wheel and speed change Y*clutchesengaged, the disk 43 is turned countercl-ockwise while 'the Adisk 43a turns clockwise as indicated bythe ar'- rows in Fig. 3. As a result, material `vdischarged ifm-om-thehopperonto-the forward portions ofthe .rotating Tdisks is 'thrown-01T :from the latter later'- Yally -and outwardly from' the Vehicle. When the yclutch element =$2 `is, "engaging the vvsprocket `55, the spreader tdisks will turn-at'about ve times 4the fspeed of the vehicle wheel, the ratio being 3 ywhen when the drive is through the sprocket 66'.

It will be observed that the streams 28 and 29 fall -ontoand are intercepted-by portions of the disks -43 and 43a which are moving laterally and outwardly relative yto the path of travel of the vehicle. In order to impart the disk motion quickly to the material and t-hereby -buld up cen*- tr-i-fugal .force Yfor throwing the -material the vproper distance, opstanding ribs 30A are formed on the upper Asurfaces of the disks 43 and 43a and are shaped Ain a novel manner to impart the desired pattern to the curvedr curtains 83 of material that leave. the disk peripheries and gravitate to the `ground to cover the areas 2.4 and 25. Herein, the ribs are sheet metal blades of arcuate shape and about one inch wide, the disks being about two feet in diameter. The ribs radiate rom a central hub 8| and are curved so that their leading sides are of convex "contour, Eight equally spaced ribs are provided on each disk in this instance, and the outer 'end portions 82 of the alternate ribs are made straight and inclined forwardly relative 'to the direction of disk rotation so as to prolong the retention of part of the material on the disk. l

As the two disks rotate, ther's'tr'eams 28 and 29 substantially ll the 'pockets between the ribs 8U, and the material contained in these pockets is carried forwardly at the peripheral speed of the disks. The outermost portion of the r'material is' thrown off after a relatively short are f travel, while the inner portion is retained longer and acquires greater momentum sol las to be thrown farther 'away froiri the disk. This action is progressive due to the curvature of the ribs and the inclination of the ends 82 with the result that the curtain 83 is of arcuate shape, and, when reaching the ground, is of a cross-sectional shape somewhat as indicated at 84 extending arcuately from a point B5 spaced laterally from the front of the disk to a point 86 spaced rearwardly from and substantially behind the center of the disk so as to be disposed adjacent to the edge oi the ground area 23. Thus, the curtains 83 cover the ground areas 24 and 25 with the desired uniformity of distribution.

The distributor may be adjusted in various ways according to the condition of the ground being traversed, the size and dampness of the material, and the amount of material required to be distributed per unit of ground area. When working on hard ground, the low speed drive to the disks is ordinarily used and the levers 35, 50, and 5| are set to give increased volume, the vehicle speed usually being from to 20 miles an hour. On soft ground where a slower vehicle speed, usually from 5 to 10 miles per hour, must be maintained, the volume of material discharged from the hopper would be decreased, and the high speed drive to the distributor disks would be used. Thus, it will be seen that the distributor is very versatile and well adapted to meet the widely varying conditions encountered in service.

Because the disks 43 and 43' are driven from the l drive wheels of the vehicle, the material distributed over the areas 24 and 25 is proportional with the desired accuracy relative to that distributed gravitationally over the area 23. The distributor may be installed on any vehicle having a tilting dump body, and may be attached or detached quickly and conveniently. Moreover, it may be thrown into or out of action by the clutch 12 which may, if desired, be controlled from the vehicle cab.

I claim as my invention:

1. A distributor for loose material comprising an elongated hopper adapted to be supported on a wheeled vehicle to receive material from a tilting dump body on the vehicle, said hopper extending transversely of the vehicle and being open intermediate the ends of its bottom to provide for the discharge of material gravitationally and distribution of the same over the ground area traversed by the vehicle, said hopper having bottom outlets at opposite end portions outwardly beyond the gravitational discharge area, centrifugally acting means for receiving material discharged from said outlets and distributing the same to ground areas on opposite sides of said rst area, and means for driving said last mentioned means from a ground-engaging wheel of said vehicle.

2. A distributor for loose material comprising an elongated hopper adapted for mounting in a horizontal position on a vehicle, the bottom of said hopper having outlet holes spaced therealong for the downward discharge of material in a row of spaced streams, a plate disposed beneath said hopper and adapted to intercept a group of said streams intermediate the ends of said row and to spread said streams into a curtain flowing downwardly to cover a ground area, a pair oi disks disposed generally horizontally and positioned to intercept the streams of material at opposite ends oi said row, and means driving said disks in directions to throw the material intercepted thereby outwardly so as to cover ground areas disposed on opposite sides and adjacent to said rst mentioned area. i

3. A distributor for loose material comprising, an elongated hopper adapted to be supported in a horizontal position on the rear end of a vehicle, said hopper having openings at Opposite ends, two disks disposed in substantially horizontal positions with their forward portions underlying said openings to receive material therefrom, means for rotating said disks in opposite directions to carry the received material in an arcuate path iirst outwardly and then rearwardly, ribs carried by and radiating outwardly from the centers of said disks to form intervening pockets flaring outwardly along the tops of the disks and operating on said material falling from said hopper into said pockets to throw such material off from the disks by centrifugal action laterally and outwardly and also rearwardly from the disks whereby to leave an intermediate ground area between said disks uncovered, and means receiving material discharged downwardly from openings intermediate the ends of said hopper and distributing the same over said intermediate ground area.

GROVER D. PORTER.

REFERENCES CITED The following referenlces are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 14,804 Holden Feb. 10, 1920 15,104 Luce June 10, 1856 290,385 Atwood Dec. 18, 1883 1,299,948 Isaman Apr. 8, 1919 1,655,780 Brininger et al Jan. 10, 1928 1,776,814 Lutz Sept. 30, 1930 1,809,704 Hurt June 9, 1931 1,909,238 Thompson May 16, 1933 2,044,652 Walker June 16, 1936 2,059,548 Broome Nov. 3, 1936 2,097,102 Moore Oct. 26, 1937 2,180,253 Moore Nov. 14, 1939 2,340,657 Goertzen Feb. 1, 1944 

